Australia is the world’s leading country in the spread of rooftop PV, with over 3 million small PV systems installed, covering more than a quarter of residential and non-residential homes. I am.
The proliferation of solar power is driven by government incentives, allowing Australians to save thousands of dollars under a small renewable energy scheme set to benefit more than 400,000 homes this year. It states.
It is estimated that in 2021 rooftop solar power was placed in 7% of the country’s electricity generation, reducing Australia’s carbon dioxide emissions by more than 17.7 million tons.
Energy and Emissions Minister Angus Taylor and Deputy Minister Tim Wilson pointed out saved electricity bills in places such as kindergartens, schools, community centers, pubs, clubs and homes.
“Australia’s first carbon-neutral community kindergarten, Albert Park Kindergarten in Victoria, shows the difference that small solar power plants make. After installing solar panels, solar cells and energy-efficient equipment, the kindergarten charges for electricity. Has been significantly reduced, “says Taylor.
“Australia is a world leader in rooftop solar power, adding up to 2,000 small-scale solar power plants every day,” Wilson said. “Solar enables small businesses and local community groups to reduce both costs and emissions.”
However, the proliferation of solar and other forms of renewable and intermittent power generation raises serious concerns that Australia could lose energy security without significantly reforming its existing infrastructure. increase.
In particular, the Australian Energy Security Commission (ESB) warned in July that the country could face power outages and price shocks unless it addresses some important issues. That is, energy storage, and maintenance of grid frequency and inertia.
In addition, Stefan Jarnason, CEO of solar monitoring software and hardware provider Solar Analytics, said in a report by the ESB and the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) that the mechanism for managing rooftop solar, also known as the Distributed Energy Resource (DER). He said he outlined the need. ..
Specifically, the DER is currently output to the grid if it is available by default without any form of control or management, without interaction with the grid operator. However, Journalson suggested that such a mechanism is important. Without it, there is little or no control over a fast-growing photovoltaic generator.
“The biggest problem right now is that there is almost zero visibility into how DER works on the grid,” Jarnason told The Epoch Times in an email.
This has been demonstrated when thousands of solar panels are temporarily disconnected from the grid by AEMO to avoid lack of inertia.
“Therefore, DER will continue to grow and will sadly face a rocky period of unnecessarily priced due to the chaotic transition.”
The ESB does this through a new capacity mechanism that keeps “flexible” energy generators (generators that can be started on demand, such as gas and hydraulic) online and makes them available during periods of light wind and sunlight. I tried to improve.
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